Tag Archives: entertainment

My top 100 favourite films – part 2

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The Arnold Era… (80 – 75)

80: The Running Man

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093894/

Set in a totalitarian society. Ben Richards is a cop who was blamed for a massacre which wasn’t his fault. He would be sent to prison and breaks out with some other inmates. He tries to escape but the woman whom he dragged into his plan turns him over to the authorities. Damon Killian, who is the host of THE RUNNING MAN a game show wherein convicted felons are given the chance to run to freedom but have to elude the stalkers; men who hunt them down and kill them in gruesome manners. When he learns that Richards has been caught, he wants him to be the show’s next contestant. After being brought to Killian, Richards turns him down, Killian then reveals to Richards that his two friends who were in prison with him and who broke out with him have been caught, so unless Richards does the show they will. But on the night of the show, Richards is set to go but Killian also reveals that Richards two friends are going with him. Richards tells Killian that he will be back.

79: The Terminator

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/

A cyborg is sent from the future on a deadly mission. He has to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose life will have a great significance in years to come. Sarah has only one protector – Kyle Reese – also sent from the future. The Terminator uses his exceptional intelligence and strength to find Sarah, but is there any way to stop the seemingly indestructible cyborg.

78: Terminator 2 Judgement Day

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/

Nearly 10 years have passed since Sarah Connor was targeted for termination by a cyborg from the future. Now her son, John, the future leader of the resistance, is the target for a newer, more deadly terminator. Once again, the resistance has managed to send a protector back to attempt to save John and his mother Sarah.

77: Jingle All The Way (a true guilty pleasure)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116705/

Meet Howard Langston, a salesman for a mattress company is constantly busy at his job, and he also constantly disappoints his son, after he misses his son’s karate exposition, he tries hard to come up with a way to make it up to him, this is when his son tells Howard that he wants for Christmas is an action figure of his son’s television hero, Turbo Man. Unfotunately for Howard, it is Christmas Eve, and every store is sold out of Turbo Man figures, now Howard must travel all over town and compete with everybody else including a mail man named Myron to find a Turbo Man action figure, and to make it to the Wintertainment parade which will feature Turbo Man.

76: Predator (1987)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093773/

A team of special force ops, led by a tough but fair soldier, Major “Dutch” Schaefer, are ordered in to assist CIA man, George Dillon, on a rescue mission for potential survivors of a Helicopter downed over remote South American jungle. Not long after they land, Dutch and his team discover that they have been sent in under false pretenses. This deception turns out to be the least of their worries though, when they find themselves being methodically hunted by something not of this world.

75: Total Recall (1990)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/

Douglas Quaid is haunted by a recurring dream about a journey to Mars. He hopes to find out more about this dream and buys a holiday at Rekall Inc. where they sell implanted memories. But something goes wrong with the memory implantation and he remembers being a secret agent fighting against the evil Mars administrator Cohaagen. Now the story really begins and it’s a rollercoaster ride until the massive end of the movie.

74: Starship Troopers (1997)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120201/

In the distant future high school kids are encouraged to become citizens by joining the military. What they don’t know is that they’ll soon be engaged in a full scale war against a planet of alien insects. The fight is on to ensure the safety of humanity.

73: The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296572/

Riddick, now a hunted man, finds himself in the middle of two opposing forces in a major crusade. Colm Feore plays Lord Marshal, a warrior priest who is the leader of a sect that is waging the tenth and perhaps final crusade 500 years in the future. Judi Dench is Aereon, an ambassador from the Elemental race. She is an ethereal being who helps Riddick unearth his origins.

72: Jumper (2008)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489099/

David Rice is a high school student in Ann Arbor, abandoned by his mother at five, enamored with Millie, a fellow student, and picked on by at least one classmate. On a winter’s day, while about to drown, he discovers he can transport himself instantaneously to anyplace on earth. He leaves town, goes to New York City, robs a bank vault, and comes to the attention of a shadowy group of government hunters. Eight years later, the hunters, led by the murderous Roland, get a fix on David. He heads home, searches out Millie, invites her to travel with him, and only later realizes that Roland and his crew are seriously deadly. Is everyone close to David in danger?

71: Pitch Black (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134847/

The space transport vessel “Hunter-Gratzner” carrying 40 people on-board crashes on a desert planet when the ship is struck in a meteor storm. There are only 12 survivors, among them are pilot Carolyn Fry (Who has assumed command after the ship’s captain is killed), bounty hunter William J. Johns, religious man Abu Al-Walid, Antiques dealer Paris P. Ogilvie, runaway teenager Jack, settlers John ‘Zeke’ Ezekiel and his lover Sharon ‘Shazza’ Montgomery and Richard B. Riddick, a dangerous escaped convict. Marooned, the 10 survivors finds the barren and hot desert-scape has sunlight from three suns. Not only they find food and water, and worry about Riddick, the survivors find themselves being hunted by the planet’s flesh-eating alien inhabitants, when the planet is engulfed in darkness, which happens every 22 years, as they come out on to the surface to hunt and eat all signs of life…

More soon…

My top 100 Favourite Films

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There are many films that have come and gone over the years and many that have stuck with me for some reason or another. Some I have watched over and over again and still enjoy to this day and some that I’ve only seen once but remember so vividly as if I’d seen them so many more times. Any way I felt compelled to make a list (in no particular order) of my top 100. I was going to make a top 10 or 20 but there are simply too many to name. Ok so here goes…

100: Ghostbusters (1984)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/

Three odd-ball scientists get kicked out of their cushy positions at a university in New York City where they studied the occult. They decide to set up shop in an old firehouse and become Ghostbusters, trapping pesky ghosts, spirits, haunts, and poltergeists for money. They wise-crack their way through the city, and stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, one which will release untold evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters are called on to save the Big Apple.

99: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100758/

Through contact with a mysterious substance, called Ooze, 4 little turtles in the canalization of New York mutate to giant turtles. They can speak, walk upright and love pizza. The wise rat Splinter becomes their mentor and educates them to Ninja fighters. Their arch-enemy is the bad, bad guy Shredder, who struggles to gain power over the world. Of course the ninja turtles will do everything to stop him.

98: Jarassic Park (1993)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/

Huge advancements in scientific technology have been able to create an island full of living dinosaurs. John Hammond has invited four individuals, plus his two grandchildren to join him at Jurassic Park. But will everything go to plan? Especially when one of the parks own workers attempt to steal the dinosaurs embryos, and have to shut down all the electricity in the process. It’s now a race for survival with everyone located all over the island.

97: Back to the Future (1985)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/

Marty McFly, a typical American teenager of the Eighties, is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean “time machine” invented by slightly mad scientist. During his often hysterical, always amazing trip back in time, Marty must make certain his teenage parents-to-be meet and fall in love – so he can get back to the future.

96: Back to the Future 2 (1989)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096874/

Marty McFly has only just got back from the past, when he is once again picked up by Dr. Emmett Brown and sent through time to the future. Marty’s job in the future is to pose as his son to prevent him being thrown in prison. Unfortunately, things get worse when the future changes the present.

95: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096928/

In the small town of San Dimas, a few miles away from Los Angeles, there are two nearly brain dead teenage boys going by the names of Bill S, Preston ESQ. and Ted Theodore Logan, they have a dream together of starting their own rock and roll band called the “Wyld Stallyns”. Unfortunately, they are still in high school and on the verge of failing out of their school as well, and if they do not pass their upcoming history report, they will be separated as a result of Ted’s father sending him to military school. But, what Bill and Ted do not know is that they must stay together to save the future. So, a man from the future named Rufus came to help them pass their report. So, both Bill and Ted decided to gather up historical figures which they need for their report. They are hoping that this will help them pass their report so they can stay together.

95: Bill and Teds Bogus Journey (1991)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101452/

The world of our distant future is a veritable utopia, thanks to the lyrics of two simple-minded 20th Century rock and rollers, Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan. However, a would-be conquerer threatens to throw history off-track by sending “most non-non-heinous” evil robot Bill and Teds back to kill their good counterparts. Finding themselves dead, the boys must outwit the Grim Reaper and traverse Heaven and Hell to return to the land of the living, rescue their “babes” and have a “most triumphant” concert at the all-important Battle of the Bands.

94: Multiplicity (1996)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117108/

Construction worker Doug Kinney finds that the pressures of his working life, combined with his duties to his wife Laura and daughter Jennifer leaves him with little time for himself. However, he is approached by geneticist Dr. Owen Leeds who offers him a rather unusual solution to his problems – cloning.

93: Beetlejuice (1988)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094721/

Adam and Barbara are a normal couple…who happen to be dead. They have given their precious time to decorate the house and make it their own, but unfortunately a family is moving in, and not quietly. Adam and Barbara try to scare them out, but ends up becoming the main attraction to the money making family. They call upon Beetlejuice to help, but Beetlejuice has more in mind than just helping.

92: Death Becomes Her (1992)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104070/

Helen, a writer, and Madeline, an actress, have hated each other for years. Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once Helen’s fiance. After she recovers from a mental breakdown, Helen vows revenge by stealing back Ernest and plotting to kill Madeline. Both rivals have secretly drunk a miracle cure for aging; they accidentally discover, when each tries to eliminate the other, that they have become immortal and that “life” will never be the same again.

91: Liar Liar (1997)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119528/

Fletcher Reede, a fast talking attorney, habitual liar, and divorced father is an incredibly successful lawyer who has built his career by lying. He has a habit of giving precedence to his job and always breaking promises to be with his favorite young son Max, but Fletcher lets Max down once too often, for missing his own son’s birthday party. But until then at 8:15 Max has decided to make an honest man out of him as he wishes for one whole day his dad couldn’t tell a lie. When the wish comes true all Fletcher can do is tell the truth and cannot tell one lie. Uh-oh for Fletcher!

90: Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090357/

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his classmates with his abilities. When they discover a plot to murder a series of British business men by an Egyptian cult, they move to stop it.

89: Time Bandits (1981)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081633/

Kevin, an imaginative child, goes on a time-travelling adventure with a bunch of treasure-hunting dwarves, who have “borrowed” a map to the Universe’s time holes from The Supreme Being.

88: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/

Andy Dufresne is a young and successful banker whose life changes drastically when he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. Set in the 1940’s, the film shows how Andy, with the help of his friend Red, the prison entrepreneur, turns out to be a most unconventional prisoner.

87: American History X (1998)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120586/

Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard’s narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.

86: A Bronx Tale (1993)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106489/

Gangster Sonny is the big man in the Bronx neighborhood of an Italian small boy named Calogero. A shooting witnessed by the boy (nicknamed C) is the starting point of a lasting bond between the gangster and the boy. Father (bus driver Lorenzo), however, disapproves. C grows up under the wing of both men, torn between his own natural honesty and his fascination with Sonny. C’s neighborhood cronies get involved in theft, use of guns, and racial fights. When C falls for an African American girl, things don’t get any easier. C’s leap to manhood is marked by tragedy, but also by his recognition of the many faces of love.

85: Goodfellas (1990)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/

Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners success, but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy?

84: Leon (1994)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/

Mathilda, a twelve-year old New York girl, is living an undesirable life among her half-family. Her father stores drugs for two-faced cop Norman Stansfield. Only her little brother keeps Mathilda from breaking apart. One day, Stansfield and his team take cruel revenge on her father for stretching the drugs a little, thus killing the whole family. Only Mathilda, who was out shopping, survives by finding shelter in Léon’s apartment in the moment of highest need. Soon, she finds out about the strange neighbour’s unusual profession – killing – and desperately seeks his help in taking revenge for her little brother. Léon, who is completely unexperienced in fatherly tasks, and in friendships, does his best to keep Mathilda out of trouble – unsuccessfully. Now, the conflict between a killer, who slowly discovers his abilities to live, to feel, to love and a corrupt police officer…

83: Fight Club (1999)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground “fight clubs” forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

82: Memento (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line moves forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time.

81: Pulp Fiction (1994)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/

Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.

 

More soon…

Get Better

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Get Better

As you go through life you occasionally come songs that stay with you more that other, these ‘all time top 10’ songs if you like. Well I came across this one last year whilst surfing You Tube. Song and lyrics below.

 

Imagine a song, that really reached out and touched kids,
And not in a Daily Mail way, innocence corrupted,
But in a way where criticism remained constructive,
And wasn’t too politicised and children weren’t instructed,
To behave in a way that was unrealistic,
Or made out the way they live was somehow sick and twisted,
But simply pointed out reasons to get it together,
Not shouting “get a job”, but just saying,

(Chorus)
Get better, get better, get better, get better,
Get better, get better, get,
Get better, get better, get better, get better,
Get better,
Get better,
Get better, get better, get better,
Get better, get better, get,
Get better, get better, get better,
Get better,

You see the young mother capital is where I live,
Little kids being raised by slightly bigger kids,
Society seems unphased that this is how it is,
While I’m constantly amazed that this is how it is,
They confuse love at first sight with lust at first light,
It must have hurt right when trust first took flight,
You’re young, you’ve no rights, you long for new heights,
But some of those nights leave more than love bites,
Tops cropped, skirts stop at the top of their thighs,
And the boys got that hungry look in their eyes,
They wanna be grown up and have respect you see,
But they’re acting uneducated sexually,
I ain’t saying’ be celibate,
Go out and have your fun,
But there’s plenty you can do without impregnation,
And there ain’t nothing wrong at all with having children,
Just build yourself a little before you try to build them,
And,

(Chorus)

I see small town syndrome growing in size,
There’s not a lot to do, so the kids they decide,
To get drunk every night, a glazed eyes disguise,
Do drugs every night, tired from their lives,
People getting off their faces for a quiet night in,
Kids rolling around the streets rowing and fighting,
But it’s all just because life ain’t too exciting,
And it’s easier than trying to do the right thing,
But there are other choices — if you want them,
You don’t have to tow the line and just float with the flotsam,
You can build your time better when you find a passion,
The Internet and public services give free education,
So it really ain’t a case of rich or poor,
It’s a case of self-motivation and nothing more,
Like Billy says, whether you have or you have not wealth,
The system might fail you, but don’t fail yourself,
Just,

(Chorus)